1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for shipping and storing articles, such as automotive component parts. More particularly, the present invention relates to containers for shipping and storing articles, wherein the containers are adapted to be arranged in a stacked, interlocking manner with one another, or with similar storage bins.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
It is well known to transport articles in protective containers to prevent damage to the articles while in transit. For example, in the automotive industry, automotive component parts may be transported from one facility to another (such as, from a manufacturing or machining facility to an assembly facility) during the overall process of building an automobile. In one case, automotive wiring harnesses may be assembled from sub-component parts in one facility and then shipped to a final assembly facility where the wiring harnesses will be installed in automobiles. Protective containers, such as returnable plastic containers (“RPC's”) are used typically to transport such component parts from one facility to another. It is therefore desirable to provide a container for shipping articles.
Once at a destination facility, a typical RPC also provides storage for the component parts shipped to the destination facility therein until such time as the component parts are needed. It is not uncommon for the component parts to be stored in the RPC for a long period of time, possibly for several weeks, until the component parts are required. For this reason, typical RPC's are modular in construction and are adapted to be stacked upon one another in an interlocking manner. It is therefore desirable to provide a container for shipping articles that may be used as a storage bin for either short-term or long-term storage of the articles shipped therein. It is also desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is modular in construction and that is adapted to be arranged in a stacked and interlocking manner. It is also desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is adapted to be handled by ordinary equipment, such as forklifts and inventory control systems.
Known shipping/storage containers, such as RPC's, typically are constructed from expensive rigid plastic materials, so that they can be reused. The cost of such containers typically is high, because the materials used to construct such containers are expensive. It is therefore desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is constructed from inexpensive materials.
Moreover, return-shipping of empty containers (i.e., returning an empty RPC to the shipping facility once the destination facility has removed the component parts therefrom) is costly and inefficient. For this reason, many shipping/storage containers, such as RPC's, are built-up structures comprised of a number of rectangular flat wall members which can be arranged and interlocked with one another to form a box-like built-up construction, but which can be broken-down for return-shipping. Once the component parts are removed from the RPC's for use, the RPC's are disassembled and the flat RPC wall members are returned to the shipping facility for reuse. It is therefore desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is adapted to be arranged in a broken-down orientation so as to permit efficient shipping thereof, but that is also adapted to be arranged in a built-up orientation so as to permit use thereof as a shipping container and storage bin.
Destination facilities, however, do not always return the broken-down RPC's, and it is a common problem that shipping facilities do not consistently receive their RPC's from the destination facilities. It is therefore desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is suitable for one-time use, thereby eliminating the need to return the shipping/storage container to the shipping facility. It is also desirable, however, to provide a shipping/storage container that is suitable for one-time use, but that is constructed from sufficiently durable materials so as to permit repeated use thereof, if desired.
It is not uncommon for end-users of conventional shipping/storage containers, such as RPC's, to use RPC's along with a variety of other storage bins, such as simple corrugated bins. However, conventional shipping/storage containers, such as RPC's are not interchangeable with these other storage bins, thereby requiring the RPC's to be stacked/stored separately from the other storage bins. It is therefore desirable to provide a shipping/storage container that is interchangeable with conventional shipping/storage containers, such as RPC's.